Yesterday, I finished recording all of my electric guitar parts for the upcoming album... Since Dave finished a couple weeks ago, that means besides a few acoustic parts, guitars are good to go! It's such a relief... We started recording guitars wayyyy back in December. After a short break from recording, we are back in full force to get this album out in the fall.

We've also been recording video footage of much of the process, so there will be a series of videos that we upload to our YouTube channel (which currently doesn't have anything) with some behind-the-scenes sneak peeks.

If you want to be prepared now and subscribe to our channel, go to http://youtube.com/ShaimusBand

This is what will I'm hoping won't happen to me in Brazil. If, however, I do get mixed into an inescapable embroglio such as the one seen here, don't mourn for me. I've lived a long and fulfilling life, seen a million faces and rocked them all.

My favorite comedian, George Carlin, died this past weekend. As a tribute, I've posted two videos of his bits. The first is one of his classics: baseball vs. football. No dirty language, just hilarious observations. The second one is Carlin expressing his disdain for guys named Todd (and other soft boys' names). It's the complete opposite side of his comedy: dirty, angry, and still hilarious. I'm bummed that I'll never get the chance to see him live. Enjoy.

We've all been in the position of watching a movie someone else is really excited about and more or less disliking every minute of it. So what's the most effective way of suffering through such an ordeal while avoiding the risk of appearing obviously disinterested to said excited party? Is it really worth the effort of explaining the reasons one isn't enjoying the movie? What if the movie is so bad that elaborating on this topic would take as long as watching another equally bad film? Regardless of the answers to these rhetorical questions, I have figured out a temporary solution that has worked many times in the past. My suggestion:

• Pretend a friend of yours made the movie, and that you personally know everyone who is acting in it.

With this mindset, bad jokes become funnier, cheap special effects appear impressive, poorly written dialogue becomes excusable, and sub-par acting translates as endearing. I swear, it works. A good example would be the movie "Hatchet". It's about a guy who was deformed, burned alive, and now kills people with a hatchet. The "unconventional" ending becomes a stroke of genius when watching using my brilliant strategy. Try it, I dare you.

Good evening to all the Shaimus blog fans. First of all, let me apologize for never ever blogging. I believe blogs to be similar to symphonies, each composer with his own style. Evan, like Mozart, can write a masterpiece blog on the first try. I, however, take many moons to perfect my blogs, making me more like Brahms, who took twenty years to write his first symphony.

I would like to discuss something of great importance. This issue, whose magnitude cannot be misunderestimated in its relation to our generation, is one of sexual politics and turbulent changes to our modern-day patriarchical society. I'm talking, of course, about the secret feminist agenda propogated by the Disney company.

As you read, keep in mind several things. I myself am a feminist by definition. I believe that women and men should be treated equally; that men and women are different but complementary; that ones' weakness is most often the others' strength. Secondly, know that I took Gender and Power in History from a Harvard professor (a woman with hairy armpits and a doctorate in history) and earned an A-. Disney has infiltrated the minds of young people and poisened their perception of reality by showing us a steady stream of female protagonists who have it all and are yet unsatisfied. Take for instance the following princesses:

1. Ariel


Has twenty thingamabobs, whosits and whatsits galore, and says "But who cares, no big deal."



Has the handsomest man in the village offer her marriage, only to snub him because he is a townie.








I find it no surprise that due to the Disney corporation's steady instillment of their privatized values, several of our cherished American traditions are drowning in a tide of iconoclasm, losing their grip on the rock of decency and morality. Divorce rates are astronomical, childhood obesity is an epidemic, and my girlfriend doesn't know how to cook.

All of this, which makes me love you less, is the evil, bitter fruit of the Disney corporation.

I was watching TV recently when I was introduced to the ultimate scam: Just For Men's "Touch of Gray" hair dye.

You may be thinking to yourself, "why, Evan? Why must you go after Just For Men, a company that's just trying to help aging males recapture the confidence of their youth? What did JFM ever do to you?"

Nothing, of course. Until now, that is. Touch of Gray is the company's latest hair dye product that doesn't eliminate all of the gray in your hair. That way, they say, you can still look distinguished, show your "experience" to the world. But that's not what I say.

It's plain and simple: hair dye that leaves some gray = hair dye that doesn't work. I'd assume that JFM had a big stockpile of failed dye formulas sitting in their research and development facility that they were wondering what to do with. The garbage was headed for a landfill until one clever employee said: "Hey, why don't we just sell it?"

Well I'm on to you, Just For Men. Your trickery will not stand. I am telling the world not to invest in your product. Instead, they can purchase my new line of car wash formula. It's called "Bit o' Dirt," and it will get your car nearly clean, but leave some dirty patches and watermarks here and there to give it that worldly, not-fresh-from-the-car-wash look. Buy it today, just $29.99!!!

Wednesday May 14th 2008- 9:23 pm

The whole band has been watching this video for days now, and we all think it's one of the funniest things ever. It's entirely possible that this is really only funny to musicians, as it is technically "music humor." But it's worth watching all the way through, regardless of whether you play an instrument or not. When we watched this after our show last friday, I was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down my face. Some very talented person has taken footage of a live Santana performance and overdubbed some new audio that makes them sound terrible. Something about it being Santana just makes it even funnier. Enjoy.



There's a whole "shreds" series. I'd recommend checking it out on YouTube if you liked this one.

This post is for anyone who hates their job... especially a 9-5.

To say that last weekend's video shoot was fun wouldn't really do justice to the experience. The whole thing was so unique to me (and my bandmates) that it's hard to even really say what it was. Fun? You betcha. We loitered around an office, shot some scenes, hung out with the crew. Tiring? For sure. On Saturday we were there for about 12 straight hours. Sunday was about 8 and a half, but the crew was there for a good 4 hours more than us. Weird? Definitely. I had makeup caked on my face, which is not something I'm used to (I swear). We were standing around in vintage-looking office garb and acting miserable. I use "acting" in the loosest sense of the term.

I guess the only all-encompassing word would be "unforgettable." I don't want to give too much away about the video, but we got to do some cathartic things during the shoot that I know millions of people out there would love to do. I was full-on sick with a cold that I caught from Phil (who wasn't feeling too hot himself) that I managed to forget about when I was on camera, but off camera it constantly reared its ugly head. We got to meet some cool new people in the crew, and were surprised by how many people were involved in the project. Our director, Adam Kerpelman, really put something special together for the video, and we were all very impressed with the project.

So here's what I feel like I can reveal about the video:

1) It's for the song "Turn the Other Way"
2) The song is about hating a crappy 9-5 office job
3) The video takes place in an office
4) We are all wearing ties and hating our cubicle lives
5) The plot thickens...

We're not sure exactly when the video will be complete, but we're thinking of debuting it in style at one of our live shows. I sure can't wait to see how it turns out!!!

As many of you know, we have been holing ourselves up in the studio for quite some time now. There is still quite a bit to be done for perfectionists like us, but that doesn't mean we can't give you a little something to tide you over in the meantime. Head on over to www.myspace.com/shaimus and listen to the glory that is "Like a Fool," a not-quite-final recording of some brand new material.

We also just wrapped the shooting of our very first music video for our new song, "Turn the Other Way." We had a blast at the shoot, and now director Adam Kerpelman has to take all that footage and try to make us look cool. It is an unenviable task, but if anyone can do it, it's him!

Thank you all for your patience and support with our second recording undertaking... We are trying to make the best possible music for you. Rock on!

Why do we love it? Thursday night, hour-long set, no cover charge, that's why. We played our second show at the Lighthouse last night and it was great. I still feel like I'm shaking off a little rust since we haven't been playing as often with the recording going on (and I was even a little nervous), but it was a great time. The place was packed with a good mixture of new and familiar faces. There were over a hundred people there, which makes any show fun. While the stage is not the most ideal as far as hearing each other (or my own vocals in this case) is concerned, it's still become one of my favorite places to play just for the atmosphere. Hermosa Beach is great and the Lighthouse is right on the pier. It's definitely one of the hot spots of the town... I remember looking around at one point in the set and thinking, "wow, where did all these people come from?"

Check out the setlist from the show on our message board.

After all this recording, it was great to get out and play our first show since Halloween. Last night's was interesting because we played in the middle of an outdoor mall in Irvine, CA. What was great about it is that it was an opportunity to play for a bunch of random people who have never heard us before.

Overall I think the show went really well, despite the fact that there were no monitors on stage so it was really our best guess if we were playing anything together for most of the songs. The thing that really stuck out to me was the temperature; the guy who was organizing the show asked us if we wanted cups of hot water to warm our hands in between songs because it was going to get cold. "Nah," I said, "my fingers will move so fast it will create enough friction to keep my hands warm and probably even risk setting my fretboard on fire."

Hilariously clever as that was, it turned out that I'm an idiot (not the first time that's happened). The temperature was only in the 50s, but as soon as I launched into my first solo of the night (in "All Of This") I came to the unpleasant realization that I could not feel my fingertips. Whoops. As it turns out, that makes it really hard to play a competent-sounding guitar solo. So hard, in fact, that I didn't. It sounded far from competent in fact. It was sort of embarrassing.

Luckily I got warmed up pretty soon after and the rest of my solos sounded just fine. But I learned my lesson. Oh and my nose was running the whole night. The lessons we learn from playing outside are abundant and lifelong.

We need to get this guy to be the third guitarist in our band:



After I stopped laughing while remembering this childhood gem, I began wondering why they describe Denver as more than just a friend. Then my jubilation turned to horror.

The biggest upset in NFL history happened to be a product of the only Superbowl to date in which I was truly invested.

After a perfect 18-0, 655 point season and with a 4 point lead in the last minutes of the game, the New England Patriots looked like the best football team ever. The Sox had already done it, the Celtics' numbers are looking good, even the Bruins are having a good season. I was happy to be a part of the winning side of history...

Kevin Boss runs the ball 35 yards up the field.

Thats when the Frank's red hot sauce and bleu cheese-covered chicken wings started doing it's greased lightning dance in my bowels. In my heart I knew that the Pats were just getting NY's hopes up. I knew that New England's lumberjack defense wouldn't just let their balls un-drop back into their stomachs and hand that Lombardi trophy over to Payton Manning's little brother. In my heart, I knew that the Giants would get close, but in the end, lose with a knowledge that you JUST CAN'T BEAT THE PATRIOTS.

David Tyree obviously didn't get that message.
I hated to acknowledge the fact that the helmet catch he made was amazing.
Now my knuckles were white. Just stop them here. Stomp the shit out of them like the bullies you are. Don't be the guys who have a perfect season just to lose it to the Giants.
The next few minutes of the game were painful to watch for any NE fan, or even anyone who wanted to see A team make it all the way undefeated.
Stupid Eli Manning and his excellent ability to stay on his feet. Why didn't Brady think to do that too? He got sacked like 156 times. rrrrrr. Eli passed, Windex, no, Plaxico Burress caught.
The Giants won the game. There would be no parade in Boston.

Just give me a minute.


There's something to be said about the pain that is felt when your team works all the way to the top, just to get pissed on by some kid with an ugly uniform. It's one thing to never win, like any of the teams from Philly, so that your expectations are always tepidly luke-warm (sorry Ev, Kev totally rubbed it in at the end), but when it looks like the favor of the Greek gods are on your side, it stings like a mother to be shut down. I guess thats what we had coming. Maybe it's even what New England deserves. But I'll tell you that after decades of being the underdogs, I was starting to believe that Boston was getting a pardon from losing. Philly fans will have their day too. Oh well.


Back to work.

This has been around for a long time, but it doesn't make it any less delightful. The F-word count in The Big Lebowski is somewhere around 280, and here they are -- every last one of them -- in all their uncensored glory.

If you're at work, best not play this. Unless you want to get fired, then by all means, crank those speakers up!

I was blogstipated, but now I'll be bloggin your noggin.

Yes, we're still alive. And we have news to report! Plus a very special holiday treat for you at the end of this email. First, we'd like to mention that our recent silence has been because we are currently recording a whole bunch of kick-ass new tracks!

Finally! We don't have an exact time frame for when it will be finished, but we are documenting it all on video and promise to deliver some quality tunes to you in a timely fashion. We're really excited and we think this is the best stuff we've done so far. Our emails will keep you in the loop.

Second, College Media News has an audio interview with Phil online now. You can listen to the MP3 on their website
(http://www.collegemedianews.com/category.php?catID=3).

Finally, we couldn't let December slip by without a wonderful holiday gift from us to you. No matter what holiday you celebrate (or don't celebrate), the following should be a good dose of winter cheer. Feel free to pass it on to anyone else who may enjoy it:

http://www.jibjab.com/sendables/view/EBDhoZ5zESVnOfONhLDs7k0X

We're good actors, aren't we? Have a very merry and safe Christmas, everybody. If you don't celebrate it, I don't see why you shouldn't have a merry day anyway. We will see you in 2008, when we will start playing more shows and are expecting some great things to happen (some great things are already in the works).

Until the next post,

SHAIMUS

Welcome to the revived Shaimus blog. We did some regular updating of our original blog during our summer tour of '06, but as things got a bit hectic after it was over, we lost sight of putting our thoughts into one of these things. Now we've renewed our interest in keeping a blog to document the madness that is being in a band, and the blogosphere will never quite be the same again.

There is so much more to come it's not even funny. Well, some of it will be funny. All I know is that we are excited to see what the future brings. We're also excited when the pizza delivery guy rings the doorbell, so take from that statement what you will.